Cacao beans contain high levels of polyphenols. In fact, their antioxidant potential is greater than both green tea and red wine. This makes them an attractive option to treat photo-aged skin, as inventors in Korea have discovered; a new patent application explains.

The Premise

According to inventors at Sungkwang Medical Foundation, Seoul, and the College of Medicine Pochon CHA University, Pocheon-si, Korea, Theobroma cacao (cacao) beans contain large amounts of polyphenols; specifically, flavan-3-ol like epicatechin, procyanidin, catechin polymer, etc. These are stored in the pigment cells of embryonic seed leaves at levels of approx. 10% cacao bean weight.Furthermore, a limtless number of studies has shown that such antioxidants can improve skin conditions. Under these circumstances, the present inventors aimed to develop a plant-derived material to prevent skin aging, especially photoaging.

According to the inventors, DHPV is excellent in respect to biosafety and it effectively regulates the expression of proteins related to skin aging epigenetically, even at concentrations as low as 1 nM.